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	Pastor Admits He Had Intercourse with 14-year-old Girl By Gary V. Murray Telegram & Gazette February 18, 2011 https://home.telegram.com/clickshare/authenticateUserSubscription.do?CSAuthReq=1&CSTargetURL=http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110218/NEWS/102180498/1101/raw_headlines&CSProduct=wtg WORCESTER — The Rev. Angel Morales, the former pastor of a Pentecostal church in Leominster, admitted under questioning by police that he twice engaged in sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old female parishioner. A videodtape of the Feb. 18, 2010, interview with Leominster Police Officers Thomas M. Cuddahy and Kimberly Whitelin was played for the jury yesterday at Rev. Morales’ Worcester Superior Court trial on three counts of child rape aggravated by age difference. Jury deliberations in the case were scheduled to resume today. Judge Richard T. Tucker instructed the jurors before the recorded interview with Rev. Morales was played by Assistant District Attorney Anthony J. Marotta yesterday. He told the jurors that they could consider the statements attributed to Rev. Morales as evidence only if they were convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he made them, that he did so of his own free will and that he voluntarily waived his rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer present before agreeing to speak with investigators. The alleged victim, now 15, testified Wednesday. She said -that she and Rev. Morales, the 32-year-old former pastor of the Casa de Restauracion church at 134 Spruce St., Leominster, had sexual relations three times in late 2009 and early 2010, when she was 14. The girl said her family had been attending Rev. Morales church three times weekly for more than two years. She told the jury she and her pastor had sex once in her home and twice at the Motel 6 in Leominster. Rev. Morales told investigators that he and the girl engaged in sexual intercourse once at her home and once at the motel. He said that he knew the girl was 14 at the time and that what they were doing was “wrong.” In his closing argument to the jury later in the day, Rev. Morales’ lawyer, Leonard J. Staples, questioned whether his client’s waiver of his so-called Miranda rights was truly voluntary. Mr. Staples noted that the rights were given to Rev. Morales, who was assisted throughout the trial by a Spanish-speaking interpreter, in English. Even after a Spanish-speaking interpreter was brought in by police to assist in their interview, his rights were not explained to Rev. Morales in Spanish, said Mr. Staples, who had earlier rested his case without calling any witnesses. Mr. Staples urged the jury to consider “inconsistent statements” made by Rev. Morales’ accuser in assessing her credibility and suggested that people sometimes confess to crimes that they did not commit. He also was critical of police for what he said was their failure to take steps to corroborate the alleged victim’s account. “You want corroboration? There’s no better corroboration than his own words,” Mr. Marotta said of Rev. Morales’ statement to police. “He corroborated everything she said. Don’t be hoodwinked. That’s all I’m asking,” Mr. Marotta said in his final summation. After hearing Judge Tucker’s instructions on the law, the jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about 45 minutes yesterday without reaching a verdict. Deliberations were scheduled to resume today.
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